The Avengers: Building A Dream Team

Last night I watched the latest hot movie, The Avengers. As I reflected on the movie’s themes I was struck by the great lessons the movie had concerning teamwork and leading teams.

In the movie you have an all-star cast of heroes who are pitted against villains from another world. The leader has a vision to put together a “Dream Team” of these super heroes to protect the earth against attacks from other worlds. His dream of being successful is almost thwarted due to his inability at the outset to take all these highly successful individuals and pull them together in unity as a team. Each of their individual agendas, personalities and weaknesses almost sabotages the effort to hold off the inevitable doom from these alien adversaries.

Here is a list of some of the super heroes weaknesses that was inhibiting the formation of the Super Hero Dream Team:

Ironman-self-absorbed: his self-centeredness leads him to not be a very willing participant in the whole “team” concept. Very much a lone ranger who likes to do things according to his own ideas, desire and beliefs. He has a great deal of difficulty subduing this characteristic to function well on the team.

Do you have a team member who has not embraced the “team” concept due to an arrogance that isolates him from the rest of the team and robs the team of getting the great contributions he could contribute?

Hulk-ill-tempered: as we know his temper leads to all kinds of destructive actions that leave a wake of rubble behind him. He has to go to great lengths not to allow himself to be provoked into anger.

Do you know someone whose temper is a disruptive force on your team?

Captain America-communications issues: due to being in a frozen sleep for decades of years he lacked understanding the modern day language being used by his team and often struggled to understand what was being said.

Does your team have communication issues for one reason or another that is preventing your team from operating at a higher level?

Thor-family issues: emotional ties to the villan who is his brother, his brother was the evil villain who was seeking to set up his kingdom on earth and have everyone bow down to him, there are some pivotal moments when he struggles with the emotional side of this being his brother and not wanting to fight him, he still had hopes he could convince him to turn from his evil ways.

Do you have team members who are struggling with some personal issues that are holding them back from being top performers and contributing greatness to your team? How could you help them overcome those issues?

Black Widow-loyalty issues: a former spy who struggles with loyalty issues, she is a former spy who did not hold loyalty in high regard. She sold her services to the highest bidder and had difficulty showing devotion to the cause at the outset.

Do you have team members who don’t display loyalty and devotion to the team’s vision? How do you address that?

Nick Furry (Leader of S. H. I. E. L. D.) authenticity issues: Struggles with authenticity issues which lead to a lack of trust from his proposed team members. He held back information from his team and developed a lack of trust from the team members that he almost did not overcome.

As a leader do your people trust you? If not, why? How can you become more authentic as a leader and build a high level of trust in your organization?

Lessons

1. Great talent does not always equal great teams.

2. Individual weaknesses can hamper or even destroy team chemistry and effectiveness.

3. Great leaders unify great talents to make great teams.

4. Individual aspirations have to be yielded for the greater good of the team in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and truly create a Dream Team.

5. There is no room for arrogance on your team if you hope to achieve maximum effectiveness.

6. Without unity your team’s effectiveness is great reduced, if not destroyed.

7. When a team is unified your effectiveness is multiplied.

8. Successful teams have loyal team members.

9. Successful leaders of highly successful teams develop and cultivate a culture of mutual trust.

10. Personal issues can impact a team’s performance in negative ways and cause very disruptive situations if not addressed and handled correctly.